WAME Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications

Abstract

INTRODUCTION This statement revises our earlier “WAME Recommendations on ChatGPT and Chatbots in Relation to Scholarly Publications” (January 20, 2023). The revision reflects the proliferation of chatbots and their expanding use in scholarly publishing over the last few months, as well as emerging concerns regarding lack of authenticity of content when using chatbots. These Recommendations are intended to inform editors and help them develop policies for the use of chatbots in papers published in their journals. They aim to help authors and reviewers understand how best to attribute the use of chatbots in their work, and to address the need for all journal editors to have access to manuscript screening tools. In this rapidly evolving field, we will continue to modify these recommendations as the software and its applications develop. A chatbot is a tool “[d]riven by [artificial intelligence], automated rules, natural-language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML)…[to] process data to deliver responses to requests of all kinds.” (1) Artificial intelligence (AI) is “the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.” (2) “Generative modeling is an artificial intelligence technique that generates synthetic artifacts by analyzing training examples; learning their patterns and distribution; and then creating realistic facsimiles. Generative AI (GAI) uses generative modeling and advances in deep learning (DL) to produce diverse content at scale by utilizing existing media such as text, graphics, audio, and video.” (3, 4) Chatbots are activated by a plain-language instruction, or “prompt,” provided by the user. They generate responses using statistical and probability-based language models. (5)

Keywords

• Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications